


On the Country Road

by dayishujia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Farm/Ranch, Alternate Universe - Small Town, Awkward proposals, Established Relationship, Farm Hand!Shiro, Farmboy!Keith, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Reminiscing, University Student!Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 20:16:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10420761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayishujia/pseuds/dayishujia
Summary: Shiro takes Keith for a walk.“This is a really shitty date, I hope you know,” Keith says, stomping a little over the rocks and stones embedded in the ground next to the road.“Sorry,” Shiro laughs, completely unfazed by his boyfriend’s bluntness. He walked on the edge of the road, alongside where his boyfriend walked in the grass.Their shoulders brush against each other with each step they take.“We coulda hung out in the gas station parking lot.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> i did it,, i actually wrote a story about characters taking a walk...
> 
> inspired by my car ride home from work the other day, down some back roads. there are some lovely parts of town here lol 
> 
> like my other fics, this is dedicated to [@alyabunny](alyabunny.tumblr.com/), who always puts up with my shit, like constantly

“This is a really shitty date, I hope you know,” Keith says, stomping a little over the rocks and stones embedded in the ground next to the road.

“Sorry,” Shiro laughs, completely unfazed by his boyfriend’s bluntness. He walked on the edge of the road, alongside where his boyfriend walked in the grass.

Their shoulders brush against each other with each step they take. 

“We coulda hung out in the gas station parking lot.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I just can't believe you dragged me outta the air conditioning to walk in some empty fields.”

“Well,  _ technically _ …” Shiro snickers, about to comment that they weren't really in a field nor was the field empty.

“Blah, blah, blah,” Keith mimics, cutting him off. “Whatever. It's hot and I'm sweating.”

Shiro bumps his shoulder against Keith's. “You're cute when you sweat.”

Keith blushes but doesn't retort, turning his face from Shiro instead. He was just teasing, but it flusters Keith all the same.

Green grass stretches out alongside the one-lane paved road for as far as they can see, stretching and winding over the hills and valleys. 

On the left there were the tall corn fields belonging to Keith's family farm. They were bracketed in by wooden fence posts connected by three rows of thin, gray wire. 

On the right was an empty field, green with grass and weeds. Every few feet there was a tall, wooden post connecting electric cables high above their heads.  


In the distance, they could make out houses, some small and some a little larger. Some had little barns and others did not. 

‘I'll build you a house,’ Shiro used to say. Keith glances at him from the corner of his eye and wonders if he still planned to. 

Now down an arm since he first made the promise, Keith wonders if Shiro still intended to someday make good on that promise and if he would let him help now. 

He frowns when he finds he couldn't predict an answer and reaches out to grab Shiro's t-shirt. It was still strange; although almost two years have passed since the farm accident that claimed Shiro's arm, Keith still wasn't used to it.

He's still sad for Shiro, who put everything he had into the work on the farm. 

Keith reminds himself that Shiro's still happy, even though things are a little different and he's selling produce rather than harvesting it. 

Shiro stumbles a little when Keith accidentally hit his fist against his side.

“Look,” he says, pointing across the field. Keith looks and can make out the Kellerman’s youngest, Dwight, trying to push the little lawn mower through the backyard. “Looks like George is terrorizing his brother again.”

Keith snorts. “That makes me glad I'm an only.”

“I bet you would be the same as George, if you had a younger sibling.”

“What?” Keith exclaims, appalled at the suggestion. “No! I would never!”

“Liar! Don't you remember all the times I caught you flicking hay at me? Or when you put extra lemon juice in the lemonaid so it was extra sour?”

Keith flushes but attempts to deny it. He remembers all of that and even a few things Shiro never caught on to. 

His uncles hiring Shiro that summer was simultaneously the worst and best thing to happen to him.

That first summer, as Shiro was getting used to the layout of the farm and was trying to impress both the owners and the owners son, Keith found the man's diligence just as frustrating as he found his looks.

Seeing Shiro around, doing this and that, his muscles straining with effort, got easier as time went on and as Keith got more comfortable in his own skin. 

Still, he pranked Shiro, who never once told his uncles on him. He did retaliate a couple times, with harmless little tricks but nothing to the extent of Keith's.

“I mean,  _ now _ I know you were just pulling my pigtails…”

“I absolutely was  _ not _ !” Keith snaps. He gives Shiro’s shirt a yank just so he stumbled a little with his next step. “I just… hated your stupid face, that's all.”

“Whatever you say,” Shiro hums. He kisses the top of Keith’s head, ignoring it when the smaller man swatted at him. “I'm glad you like my face now.”

“Who said I liked it?” he grumbles. “Maybe I'm just taking pity on you, the poor country boy.”

“Oh. Then I'm forever indebted to you,” Shiro teases. “You poor farmboy.”

“Hey, I'm a college student!”

“You study  _ agriculture _ ,” Shiro reaches around and pokes at Keith's cheek. “And you're a member of the FFA, baby.”

Keith scoffs. He crosses his arms over his chest, muttering, “Whatever.” 

Shiro bumps their shoulders together once more.

With a sigh, Keith leans his head against Shiro’s  shoulder, just above where the arm was severed. 

In response, Shiro bumps his head gently against Keith's as they continue to slowly make their way down the road. 

They weren't heading anywhere in particular. Out in Keith’s neck of the words, there weren't many places to go, after all. Just farms, a few residences, and a single, roadside produce stand.

A mile in the other direction, passed Keith's family farm, was the produce stand where Shiro works day in and day out. It was currently being manned by Shiro's friends, Matt and his little sister so Shiro could be with Keith.

It was just for a little while. Soon they'd have to go back, Keith to his studies and Shiro to the job to relieve his friends. 

Nevertheless, they trudge on. Every now and then, a car came speeding by and Keith pulled Shiro onto the grass by his shirt. “Saved your life,” he snarks each time and Shiro thanks him with a sweet kiss. 

“Maybe we should turn back,” Keith says eventually, glancing up the road from where they came.

“Not yet.” Shiro stops Keith from turning back, making him stand in front of him. “Hey, hey.”

Keith looks up at Shiro and crooks an eyebrow. 

“ _ Why’d you come in here lookin’ like that?” _

“...What?”

“ _ In your cowboy boots and your painted on jeans.” _

“...Oh, god,” Keith groans but he smiles anyway, doing his best to stifle a laugh.

“What?”Shiro chuckles. He presses their noses together, teasingly. “Not a fan of Dolly? Okay. Um… Okay.” Shiro seems to think for a minute, then starting singing again. 

“ _ I've got a never ending love for you. From now on that's all I wanna do. From the first time we met I knew. I'd have never ending love for you. _ “

“Shut up, Shiro,” Keith laughs.

“ _ You and me together, life's a pleasure but without your love life's not complete _ _. _ ”

Keith snorts and declares, “You can’t sing, you know that right?” He picks at Shiro's shirt, plucking at flecks of dust and dirt.

“You wound me.” Shiro clutches his t-shirt, right over his heart and quivers his lip, making the largest puppy-eyes that Keith had ever seen him do. “I’m an excellent singer. Just listen -” Shiro grips Keith's arm and sways bouncily, making Keith follow suit, “-  _ Do you love me? Do you want to be my friend? And if you do, well then don't be afraid to take me by the hand, if you want to _ .”

“God!” Keith exclaims, laughing. He's still dancing, following Shiro’s lead. His hands rest on Shiro's hipbones, keeping him close.

“See?” he kisses Keith’s cheek. “I’m the next George Strait.”

“Come on, Shiro,” Keith says, ignoring Shiro’s comment. He tugs at his boyfriend, trying to get him to start walking again. He half hoped that if they started moving again, he’d stop singing at him. “You’ve got to get back to the stand. Can’t abandon Matt there.”

“Wait, wait,” Shiro urges, tugging Keith back when he started to walk away. “I’m not done.”

“Shiro….”

But Shiro's grinning and hooking his arm around his neck, pulling him close.

Keith fights his way out of his boyfriend’s reach and walks over to a patch of grass between electricity poles and a few feet from the road. He plops himself down there, figuring that if Shiro wanted to goof off, he could sit down for it.

Shiro eventually follows and sits in the grass in front of Keith but first, he just looks at him. He feels his cheeks color under the gaze.

When Shiro does sit with him, he looks somber. 

Keith frowns, watching his boyfriend lower himself to the ground, settling in front of Keith  with his legs crossed. 

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing.” Shiro shakes his head. “Everything's great.”

“Look, I didn't mean to upset you.” Keith runs his fingers through his hair, messing it up and making some strands stand skyward. “You are a pretty good singer.”

Shiro chuckles. “That's not it. I was just remembering something.”

Keith waits for an explanation but when none comes, he prompts him. “Well?”

“Do you remember when we were climbing that giant tree in Old Man Lewinsky’s yard?”

Keith frowns. “Yeah?”

“And you fell?  _ God _ , that scared me to death….”

Keith snorts. He rips a fist-full of grass and tosses it at Shiro. “You wanna talk about accidents that scare ya to death?  _ Nothing _ compares to Uncle Thace’s call my first semester at school when you -”

“Right, right,” Shiro says, interrupting him. He knew where Keith was going with it and the memory of the accident had his shoulder aching. “Fair enough.”

“I thought so.”

“Okay. How about the time we were at the fair and Mr. Nguyen’s prized chicken escaped and chased you down the hill?”

Shiro's laughing now, his hand warm on Keith's thigh.

“That's not funny, Shiro,” Keith snaps, all the while biting back the smile that threatened to bloom. “That was terrifying. That stupid chicken….”

“That was the year that Adelaide got engaged too,” Shiro hums thoughtfully. His long fingers fiddle with the blades of grass around them and it makes Keith think that it needs to be mowed. 

“Hm.” Keith shifts a little and scoots closer to Shiro so that their knees knocked together. “After the barbecue, under the fairylights, in front of the whole town…. Sure took some guts on Gwendolyn’s part, that's for sure.”

“Yeah.”

The breeze blew between them, making the blades of grass twirl and dance. It tossed strands of Keith’s hair into his face and he grumbles, bringing up a hand to brush it out. But Shiro beat him to it, reaching out and brushing the unruly strands aside.

But instead of letting his hand fall when the hair was tucked securely behind his ear, he kept it there, letting his fingertips linger along Keith's jawbone. 

Keith blinks up at him. “...Shiro?”

That jerks Shiro out of his reverie. He pulls his hand back and tucks it under his knee. “S-sorry, was thinkin’ again.”

“What about, this time?”

Shiro shrugs. “You.”

Keith huffs a laugh. “Okay, Casanova. Care to elaborate?”

“Was just thinking…  _ wondering _ , really…. If…”

“If?” 

“If. If maybe you… if you'd like a public proposal. Like what Gwendolyn did.” Shiro’s face was bright red now and he adamantly refused to meet Keith's gaze.

“What ?” Keith asks, quieter now. The air all around them was electrified, sparking with each breath they took.

“Um…. Well,  _ Keith _ . Would you be mad? If I asked you, right here, just like this…? If you’d marry me?” Shiro gulps. “If you want to?”

Without preamble, Keith launches himself at Shiro. The force of it had them both toppling over, splaying unceremoniously on the grass.

Shiro land under Keith with a soft, surprised ‘oof’. Keith falls on top of him, arms curled tightly around his neck, his face pressed against his collarbone. 

“...Is that a ‘yes’?”

Keith makes a strangled sound in the back of his throat before saying, “Ask me again.”

Shiro nods under him. He takes a deep breath, making Keith's smaller frame rise and fall with the movement of his chest.

“Keith.”

Keith mutters something unintelligible into the side of Shiro’s neck.

“Keith, will you marry me?”

Keith raises himself up on his elbows just enough to plant the most ungraceful kiss onto Shiro's mouth. 

Shiro grunts in surprise but adapts quickly enough. His hand moves from where it rested on Keith's shoulder blade to cup the back of his neck, tangling his fingers in the long strands there. His eyes fall shut and he kisses Keith back, matching his boyfriend’s-  _ fiancé’s _ ? - fervor. 

When the kiss ultimately ends, Shiro asks stupidly, “So you will?”

“Of course!” Keith lightly slaps Shiro’s shoulder. “Yes. Of course. I will.”

* * *

When Keith returns to school for the start of the next semester, he's sporting a silver ring on his finger. 

“What the hell is that?” Lance grabs Keith's wrist and jerks him forward to inspect the ring closer. Keith shoves him off, using a little more force than what was probably necessary as Lance's grip came loose pretty easily.“Is that a ring?”

“Of course it's a ring,” Keith snaps.“What does it look like?”

“It's on your ring finger," Lance states. He turns to face their other roommate who had been, until that moment, minding his own business and unpacking his suitcase.“Hunk, Keith's got a ring on his ring finger."

“Yeah?"

“Yeah! On his left ring finger,” he says, placing emphasis on the fact it was his left hand when Hunk seemed less than interested in Keith's new piece of jewelry.“ _Left_.”

Hunk blinks a few times before crossing the room to look at the ring as well. “Keith... do you have a girlfriend?”

Keith's eyebrows knit. "What? No.”

Hunk looks up at him. "A _boy_ friend?”

Keith's cheeks color, despite himself. He sputters and tucks his hand in the pocket of his joggers in the hopes that if the offending piece of jewelry was out of sight, they'd forget about it and move on.

“Oh, my God, you do!” Lance exclaims, sounding far too amused for Keith's liking. “You have a boyfriend!”

“Well, I guess he's your fiancé, judging by that ring,” Hunk hums. “So, who asked? You or him?”

Keith frowns, feeling his frustration climb. Maybe he should have left the ring at home, like Shiro suggested he do. At the time, he hadn't realized how interested others - like his roommates - might be in his relationship status but now he was starting to see the error in his ways. 

“It doesn't matter,” Keith snaps. It was going to be a long semester.  

**Author's Note:**

> it takes me for-fucking-ever to get a fic out.. like an embarrassing amount of time considering the length and quality of fic i do produce... but i rather liked this one so here it is
> 
>  
> 
> [ find me on tumblr](lilmissginge.tumblr.com)
> 
>  
> 
> the songs shiro sings are:  
> [why'd you come in here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD8bW1rWqOA) \- dolly parton  
> [never ending song of love ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCrZ5CN7ymc) \- delaney and bonnie  
> [you and me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdVatDUtkWg) \- kitty wells and red foley  
> [check yes or no](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHxS8wlDngI) \- george strait
> 
> and the FFA is the Future Farmers of America


End file.
